I understand that these classics are beloved by many. But I have a different take. They’re in black and white and I prefer color. The world is in color, and I like my movies to reflect the full spectrum of color I see outside the movie theater.

Investments, like movies, also evolve with data and technology. Just as color and other technological developments revolutionized the movie experience, I believe the lens offered by the Factor Box can dramatically change how we construct and manage a portfolio of investments by offering a more complete picture of the underlying factors that affect a portfolio’s investment performance.

Lights! Setting the scene

In 1992, Morningstar introduced the style box, a simple and intuitive method for constructing a portfolio. The equity style box was a 3x3 grid dividing funds into nine boxes, using value and size factors — broad persistent drivers of returns—in today’s language of investing. The ease of choosing funds across styles in various boxes helped millions of investors to construct diversified equity portfolios, and provided an objective way to compare managers to their peers with similar investment styles.

The style box, circa 1992

Camera! Glaring style box limitations

While the style box has served investors well for almost 30 years, our knowledge about investments has significantly increased. We know that more factors than just size and value have been historically associated with long-run excess returns. A large body of academic work has shown that quality, momentum and minimum volatility also have empirically enhanced returns or reduced risk relative to market-capitalization index benchmarks.

The way we view investments should reflect the advances made in data and technology. With a new lens, we can make more informed investment decisions and more efficiently benchmark active managers.

Ready for a close-up: Introducing the Factor Box

The Factor Box transforms the style box concept, incorporating a more complete view of the dominant drivers of returns within equity markets. The Factor Box pushes from two factors to a full color array of factors. In my last article, I discussed how value, quality, momentum, size and low volatility have historically beat the market on a risk-adjusted basis and have strong economic intuition. The Factor Box also adds yield — a measurement of high and persistent dividend yields — because income considerations are important for many investors, especially for those in retirement.

The Factor Box shows exposures across six factors

The Factor Box displays the relative factor exposure of a stock or a group of stocks versus a comparative universe, such as the broad market. Factor exposures may change over time. For illustrative purposes only. The Factor Box should not be interpreted as a recommendation of any security or investment strategy.

Action! Using the Factor Box

We can use the Factor Box in a similar way to the style box, but with more depth and richness. We can:

Assess portfolio diversification. Do we have all, not just two, factors? If a portfolio lacks exposure to quality, for example, and has too much momentum, we can take appropriate action.

Evaluate fund exposures. Perhaps the factor exposures in a traditional actively managed fund can be obtained in a more efficient way with lower-cost, fully transparent, smart beta ETFs. The Factor Box can help find the most appropriate smart beta factor exposure.

Conduct due diligence. The Factor Box can analyze factor exposures for each security. This provides a transparent view of a fund’s actual exposures based on underlying holdings, not just the exposures the managers claim to be targeting. This can help when choosing between funds to fill an allocation.

Tilt dynamically. The snapshot provided by the Factor Box could help investors position factor exposures through the business cycle. Tactical investors who believe the economy is signaling for value to outperform, for example, could use the exposure insights of the Factor Box to reallocate within their existing holdings to implement a short-term tilt.

Carefully consider the Funds' investment objectives, risk factors, and charges and expenses before investing. This and other information can be found in the Funds' prospectuses or, if available, the summary prospectuses, which may be obtained by visiting the iShares Fund and BlackRock Fund prospectus pages. Read the prospectus carefully before investing.

Investing involves risk, including possible loss of principal.

In Latin America and Iberia: this material is for educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice nor an offer or solicitation to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any shares of any Fund (nor shall any such shares be offered or sold to any person) in any jurisdiction in which an offer, solicitation, purchase or sale would be unlawful under the securities law of that jurisdiction. If any funds are mentioned or inferred to in this material, it is possible that some or all of the funds have not been registered with the securities regulator of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Uruguay or any other securities regulator in any Latin American country and thus might not be publicly offered within any such country. The securities regulators of such countries have not confirmed the accuracy of any information contained herein.

There can be no assurance that performance will be enhanced or risk will be reduced for funds that seek to provide exposure to certain quantitative investment characteristics ("factors"). Exposure to such investment factors may detract from performance in some market environments, perhaps for extended periods. In such circumstances, a fund may seek to maintain exposure to the targeted investment factors and not adjust to target different factors, which could result in losses.

The strategies discussed are strictly for illustrative and educational purposes and should not be construed as a recommendation to purchase or sell, or an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any security. There is no guarantee that any strategies discussed will be effective.

The examples presented do not take into consideration commissions, tax implications, or other transactions costs, which may significantly affect the economic consequences of a given strategy or investment decision.

This material represents an assessment of the market environment at a specific time and is not intended to be a forecast of future events or a guarantee of future results. This information should not be relied upon by the reader as research or investment advice regarding the funds or any security in particular.

This document contains general information only and does not take into account an individual's financial circumstances. This information should not be relied upon as a primary basis for an investment decision. Rather, an assessment should be made as to whether the information is appropriate in individual circumstances and consideration should be given to talking to a financial advisor before making an investment decision.

The Funds are distributed by BlackRock Investments, LLC (together with its affiliates, “BlackRock”).